


Aftershock

by superfluouskeys



Category: Sky High (2005), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Sky High AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 02:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8949349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superfluouskeys/pseuds/superfluouskeys
Summary: After a confrontation that erupts into surprising violence, Kara and Lucy are stuck in detention together.  Though Lucy is content to fume in silence, Kara wants to try to set things right.  Superlane Sky High AU.  For the Supergirl Secret Santa Femslash Exchange!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Murderherforchristmas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murderherforchristmas/gifts).



The silence was stifling.  Devoid of even the usual shuffling and shifting of creatures who counted themselves among the living. Kara was so tense she hardly even dared to breathe, and though her back was turned, she could feel Lucy's lingering rage emanating off her as though she were still on fire.  Funny how people's powers sometimes seemed to stem from their personalities...or maybe to inform them.

The scrape of Lucy's elbow on her desk and the hesitant inhalation seemed monumental, and Kara started in response.

"So..." Kara began, and her own voice sounded far too loud in this tiny, silent room.  "I'm...really sorry."

Lucy exhaled slowly, pointedly.  "For what?"

Kara twisted her fingers into the fabric of her skirt.  She didn't dare turn her head just yet.  "For...punching you.  Mainly."

Lucy was silent for a long time--so long that Kara's curiosity got the better of her deep and overwhelming shame.  She shot Lucy a fleeting glance over her shoulder and saw that Lucy looked thoughtful...but not quite as murderous as Kara might have expected.

"Not the first time I've taken a blow to the face," she said at last.  "Won't be the last."

"That's..."  A logical statement, Kara guessed.  All personal matters aside, Lucy's powers, like those of her infamous father, were all wrapped up in combat: fists of steel, that fire-throwing thing, super-speed, and likely a lot of other stuff Kara hadn't personally observed, by virtue of catching her off her guard.  But this felt different.  Lucy hadn't been prepared for Kara.  Kara hadn't been prepared for herself.  Though both Kara's parents were well-known for their many and coveted superpowers, Kara hadn't shown signs of inheriting a single one until today. 

Her time at Sky High so far had been at once a tremendous disappointment and an unprecedented surprise.  She'd been relegated to the Sidekick program, a tragedy for which she'd half-expected to be disowned, but within that program she'd discovered a wealth of people whose skills were not particularly impressive, but whose hearts and minds far outshone the flashy Hero department, as far as Kara was concerned.

After all, Kara's older sister, Alex, had chosen to be a Sidekick, despite her own subset of impressive skills in combat.  She'd done it on principle--something about not believing in the hierarchical dichotomy of...whatever--and their parents had been devastated, but that time they'd had Kara to pin their hopes and dreams upon instead.  That Kara did not have the option to be a Hero was a blow from which the Danvers were still recovering.

Kara found, increasingly as time went by, that she enjoyed her place in Sky High.  Not so much the bullying and mockery bit, but the significantly lower levels of showboating among her classmates.  Lucy Lane, for example, had so far only come off to Kara and her classmates as smug and self-congratulatory.

And not that she didn't have a right to be.  Even if Lucy's raw powers weren't enough, she was smart enough to use them well, and beautiful on top of it.  She had the kind of breathtaking beauty that made you look twice every time she so much as smiled or tossed her hair.  Kara hadn't meant for this whole thing to--

"I didn't mean for this whole thing to get so out of hand," Kara finished aloud, finally turning around in her desk to face Lucy.  "I was...I mean, we were both upset."

Lucy took another long, contemplative breath.  "Well, I guess you got your parents' famous powers after all."  Her next words rang more than a little flat.  "Good for you."

Kara ran her hand through her hair, racked her brain for anything else she could say...or should say...or wanted to say.  How had it even begun?  Someone tripped her, she fell right into Lucy, she made some stupid comment...oh.  That.

_I'm sorry that my dad put your dad in jail, but that doesn't mean--!_

"I'm also sorry for what I said.  About, you know..." another nervous hand through the hair, fleeting glance around the detention room, wondering whether it really, _really_ neutralized their powers.  "My parents...and your dad.  That was...uncalled for."

It had seemed like a smart thing to say at the time, but now, repeating it in her head, and looking at the way Lucy's features momentarily contorted and then smoothed again, Kara could see what a colossal misstep she'd made.

"Yeah," said Lucy.  "It was."

"I know it's not that simple," Kara amended hopelessly.  "I just meant..." she shook her head.  "I don't want to be your enemy.  Especially not because of, you know...some stuff between our parents."

Lucy scowled.  "Some stuff."

Kara rested her face in her hands.  "I'm sorry.  I'm messing up again."

For the first time, Lucy turned and looked at her, still unhappy, but a little softer.  "I guess it's not your fault," she said slowly, but sounded reluctant to believe it.  "I shouldn't expect you to understand.  Everything I do..." her brow furrowed, and she focused her attention on the empty wall once more.  "Everything I _am_ is tied to my father."

Kara wrung her hands, but meekly offered, "That's something I know a little bit about, at least."

Lucy let out a small huff of laughter that wasn't entirely filled with loathing, and Kara relaxed significantly.  "Yeah, I guess so."

Emboldened by this small improvement, words fell from Kara's lips unbidden.  "But you're so perfect!" she said.  "You're brilliant and...and _beautiful_ , and you can throw fire and stuff!  I can't imagine anyone thinking of you as some kind of criminal in the making or something."

Lucy's attention snapped back to Kara, all wide, dark eyes and a tiny, disbelieving smirk on her lips that made Kara think she must have said something wrong again.  Lucy looked like she meant to say something, but once again they'd found themselves trapped in a moment without movement, eyes locked and pulses quickened.

"Beautiful, huh?" said Lucy with a small quirk of her head.

Kara felt her face flush, and her hand strayed to her hair in a fit of nervous energy.  "I...think that's pretty obvious."

The rest of the conversation was rather meaningless after that, but with a few fleeting words, the entire tone had changed, and the feeling of the little white room along with it.  Awhile later, the principal returned, practically sneering in response to the decidedly upbeat demeanour of her delinquent charges, to deliver some pointed words about using their powers more wisely in the future.

Kara and Lucy exited the detention room shoulder to shoulder, then, sometime later, when they were certain no one would see, with fingertips tentatively interlaced.


End file.
